Kenja Communication

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Kenja Communication, or simply Kenja, is an Australian spiritual-based group. It was founded by partners Kenneth Emmanuel Dyers and Jan Hamilton in 1982.[1] It has gained media attention due to lawsuits concerning Dyer's alleged sexual assaults on young girls, and its role in the development of mental illness in several former members.

[edit] About

The word Kenja was derived from the first letters of the names of the two leaders, Ken Dyers and Jan Hamilton. They later discovered it means wisdom in Japanese. Kenja has offices in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Parramatta.

While its website describes its purpose as to "increase spiritual understanding in a physical world",[2] a former Liberal Party parliamentarian Stephen Mutch described Kenja as "a sinister organisation designed to fill the pockets and stroke the egos"[3][4] in the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1993, and the media attention Kenja has attracted also gives a negative description of them.[5]

The group practises a form of meditation called 'Energy Conversion' or 'Processing', or it is referred to as a 'Session'. Kenja says that it was developed by Tibetan Buddhists and later refined and simplified by Ken Dyers.[6] In contrast, The Monthly Magazine described it as "Scientology-derived pseudo-psychological hocus-pocus".[3]

[edit] Ken Dyers

Dyers served with 9th Div Pro Coy, a deployment made up of Military Policeman consistent with a Provost Coy, as shown on his service record, in both the Middle East and New Guinea for two years. Dyers served for three years in Australia as a transport driver, and was discharged with a disability. [7] He is also a former Scientology member. In a list published from the 1950s onwards by Scientology, he is listed as an "SP" (a suppressive person).[8]

In 1993 Dyers was charged with 11 counts of sexual offences against two girls and two sisters of one of the girls, who were between the ages of eight and 15. After several trials and appeals, which lasted almost a decade, Dyers was convicted and jailed at Long Bay Correctional Centre. An appeal in 2000 failed, and in 2002 the charge was overturned in the High Court of Australia on the grounds that the trial judge had potentially misdirected the trial, though two of the five judges said that the "contention of the appellant that the evidence led at his trial should have left the jury with a reasonable doubt as to his guilt... should be rejected." The judges in concluding ordered a retrial. One argued that the appeal be dismissed, while one said a retrial should not be ordered.[9]

On 28 October 2005, Dyers was charged in Sutherland Local Court with the sexual assault of two 12-year old girls, alleged to have taken place at the Kenja's Surry Hills headquarters in 2001-2002. He was released on bail under the conditions that he attends Sutherland Police Station weekly and does not attend Kenja premises or events.[10] Dyers has applied for a "permanent stay" in his current court case on the grounds of ill health.

Dyers denies he is guilty of the charges against him, saying that they are a result of former members trying to destroy him as part of a witch-hunt.[11] His lawyer, Harland Koops, makes the defence that 13 year old girls "know how to say no, they get educated in school"[12] and that "there will be contrary medical evidence indicating that Mr Dyers has had erectile dysfunction for almost 15 years".[13]

[edit] Kenja and mental illness

[edit] Cornelia Rau

In 2005, a mentally ill former member, Cornelia Rau, gained widespread media attention in Australia due to being unlawfully detained for a period of 10 months by the Australian government. Before this, she had disappeared, and later turned up in North Queensland where Aborigines alert the police after being concerned about her behaviour. She told them she was Anna Brotmeyer (and later Anna Schmidt) from Germany. Immigration officials assumed she was an illegal immigrant, and failed to diagnose her schizophrenia, leading to her detention.

Her family accused Kenja of contributing to her declining mental health,[14] although Rau had not been involved since 1998. She had developed schizophrenia while a member of the group.[15][16]

Hamilton denied any wrongdoing, saying: "We are not responsible for Cornelia's condition ... we are not a cult. It's a witch-hunt." The sister and family of Cornelia Rau, as well as several members of Kenja present at the time formed a different opinion while observing Rau's involvement in the group.[14][17] Hamilton also claimed, retrospectively, Rau was "scattered, disassociated" as a member of the group, and that she was asked to leave because she needed help and the group "couldn't help her".[18] However, witnesses quoted in the media say she was humiliated and expelled.[16][19]

[edit] Others

In a similar case to Cornelia Rau's, a man named Richard Leape who was being treated for schizophrenia disappeared while a member of Kenja and has not been seen since around 1993. His sister, Annette, was concerned that many other people had "developed very serious mental illnesses" from time in Kenja, and said she was "appalled" to know Kenja still exists.[14]

A young man who was a Kenja member of 2 years, Michael Beaver, was also diagnosed as schizophrenic and blamed the group. He said he had heard of four other people who had severe problems since leaving Kenja. Beaver later killed himself. [2]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] External links